One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant tropical hibiscus in Mchenry can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for tropical hibiscus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant tropical hibiscus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus in Mchenry is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tropical hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tropical hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your tropical hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mchenry. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mchenry is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mchenry it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your tropical hibiscus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mchenry

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Mchenry

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mchenry.